June 6.
1778
in all which we recommend to you, the strictest possible frugality, which
the distasteful Circumstances of our Country, demand of all of her officers. We
leave it to you and Mr.Schweighauser to repair the ship either
at
Nantes or Brest, as you shall judge best for the
public service.
Signed by B. Franklin, Arthur Lee,
John Adams.
To Abraham Whipple Esq. Commander of the American Frigate
the Providence at Painbeuf.
Passi
June 6. 1778
Sir
We had the Pleasure of yours of the first instant, Yesterday. We have
directed Captain Whipple to address himself, as well as his
Prize on her Arrival to you, for the necessary Repairs of the Providence, of
which We must leave him to judge, to furnish him with necessary Victuals and
Slops for his Men, not more than one Suit of Cloaths
for each Man of the Ships Compliment, and such munition of War as he may want,
in all which We recommend to him and to you the strictest Frugality, which the
distressed Circumstances of our Country demand.
You request directions relative to the part you are to act, on such
Occasions towards the Custom House. All that We can say, at present, is, that
the American Men of War must comply with the Laws: but We will
endeavour to obtain explicit directions from his
Majesty, concerning this Subject.
We are &c.
B. Franklin, Arthur Lee, John
Adams.
Mr. Schweighauser.
Page a1
Sheet 29. At + under June 6, 1778. This Letter must be inserted. We
received it in French: but the following is a litteral translation of it.
[The following letter and the above comment were copied by John Adams on a
separate leaf and keyed by a cross for insertion ahead of the entry dated 7
June.]
Marli the
6. of June 1788
I am informed Gentlemen, that the Sieur Bersolle, after
having madeadvances very considerable Advances to Captain
Jones, Commander of the Frigate of the
United States of America, the Ranger, made this Captain give him
a Bill of Exchange, which you have refused to discharge the Amount. As
the Sieur Bersolle finds himself by this means under
Embarrassment, and as you will perceive, no doubt, that it is interesting for
the conservation of your Credit, that he be promptly relieved from it, I am
persuaded that you will not delay, to cause to be paid not only the Bill of
Exchange in question, but also that which is due by Captain
Jones to the Treasury of the Marine at
Brest, both for those Effects which have been delivered to him,
from the Magazines of the King, and for his personal Subsistence, and that of
his Crew.
Upon a representation which he has made, that the Men of his own Crew had
pillaged from the Ship
Chatham, many Effects, one part of which consisting of Silver
Plate, had been sold to a Jew, Information has been obtained, by which the
Plate and other Effects have been discovered; but the whole has been deposited,
to remain, untill the Captain shall be in a Condition
to reimburse what has been paid for these Effects.
I think, moreover, that it is important that you should be informed that
this Captain who has quarrelled with his Officers and all his Crew has caused
to be committed to Prison, Mr. Simpson, his second in Command.
You will perhaps judge it proper, to procure the necessary Information, to know
whether this principal Officer has merited to suffer such a punishment. I have
the honnour to be with the most perfect Consideration, Gentlemen, your most
humble and most obedient Servant
De Sartine.
Messieurs Franklin, Lee et
Adams Deputes des
Etats Unis de L'Amerique
Passy.
I might leave the Reader to make his own reflections upon this interposition
of a Minister who had certainly no right to meddle in this Business. But the
Secret was that the Officers of our own Ships and every Body else, were to be
countenanced in violating the Laws and Orders of Congress, in doing the most
arbitrary Things of their own heads, without consulting the Commissioners, and
in trampling on the most equitable orders of the Commissioners
Page a2
merely to throw the American Business and Profits into the hands of the Tools
of the Minister and his Understrappers and to give them Opportunities of
Pillage.
June 7. 1778.
Went to
Versailles in Company with Mr. Lee, Mr.
Izard and his Lady, Mr. Lloyd and his Lady and
Mr. Francis
[Francs], a Gentleman
who spoke the English Language very well, having resided many Years in
England in some diplomatique Character, and who undertook upon
this Occasion to conduct Us. Our Objects were to see the Ceremonies and the
Procession of the Knights of the Holy Ghost, or the Chevaliers of the Cordon
blue, and in the Evening the public Supper of the Royal Family at the grand
Couvert. The Kneelings, the Bows, and the Curtesies of the Knights of the Saint
Esprit, the Dresses and Decorations, The King seated on his Throne, his
investiture of a new created Knight
Page 2
with the Badges and Ornaments
of the Order, and his Majesty's profound and reverential Bow before the Altar
as he retired, were Novelties and Curiosities to me, but
surprized me much less, than the Patience and
Perseverance with which they all kneeled for two hours together upon the hard
Marble, of which the Floor of the Chapel was made. The distinction of the blue
ribbon, was very dearly purchased at the price of enduring this painful
Operation, four times in a Year. The Count De Vergennes
confessed to me, that he was almost dead, with the pain of it. And the only
insinuation I ever heard, that the King was in any degree touched by the
Philosophy of the Age was, that he never discovered so much impatience under
any of the Occurrences of his Life, as in going through those tedious
Ceremonies of Religion to which so many hours of his Life were condemned by the
Catholic Church.
The Queen was attended by her Ladies to the Gallery opposite to the Altar,
placed in the Center of the Seat, and there left alone by the other Ladies, who
all retired. She was an Object too sublime and beautiful for my dull pen to
describe. I leave this
Enterprize to Mr.
Burke. But in his description there is more of the orator than of the
Philosopher. Her Dress was every Thing that Art and Wealth could make it. One
of the Maids of honor told me, she had Diamonds upon her Person to the Value of
Eighteen millions of Livres, and I always thought her Majesty much beholden to
her Dress. Mr. Burke saw her probably but once. I have seen
her fifty times perhaps and in all the Varieties of her Dresses. She had a fine
Complexion indicating perfect health, and was an handsome Woman in her face and
figure. But I have seen Beauties much
superiour
both in Countenance and form, in
France,
England and
America. After the Ceremonies of this Institution are over there
is a
At nine o'clock at night collection for the Poor and that this
closing Scene may be as elegant as any of the former, a young Lady of some of
the first Families in
France is appointed to present the Box to the Knights. Her dress
must be as rich and elegant in Proportion as the Queens, and her Air, motions
and Curtesies must have as much Dignity and Grace as those of the Knights. It
was a
amusing curious Entertainment to observe the
air
Easy Air, the graceful Bow and the conscious Dignity of the Knight in
presenting his contribution, and the correspondent Ease, Grace and Dignity of
the Lady in receiving it were not less charming. Every Muscle, Nerve and
Fibre of both seemed perfectly disciplined to perform
its functions. The Elevation of the Arm, the bend of the Elbow and every finger
in the hand of the Knight, in putting his Louis Door
[d'Or] into the Box, appeared to be perfectly
studied because it was perfectly natural. How much devotion there was in all
this I know not, but it was a consummate School to teach the rising Generation
the Perfection of the French Air and external Politeness and good Breeding. I
have seen nothing to be compared to it, in any other Country. The House of
Lords
Page 3
in
England I thought
the assembly the most likely to
rival this: But seven Years afterwards when I had seen that Assembly on two
extraordinary Occasions, the first the Introduction of the Prince of
Wales to his Seat in Parliament and the second the
Tryal of Mr. Hastings, I concluded
the Peers of
Great Britain were too intent on the great Interests of the
Nation, to be very solicitous about the Charms of the exteriour Exhibition of a
Spectacle. The Procession of the Peers and the Reverences they made to the
Throne in conformity to the Usage of their Ancestors, as they passed to their
Seats in
Westminster Hall, were decent and graceful enough.
At nine O Clock in the Evening We went to the grand Couvert, and saw the
King, Queen and Royal Family at Supper. Whether Mr. Francis
had contrived a plott to gratify the Curiosity of the Spectators, or whether
the Royal Family had a fancy to see the
new raw American
at their leisure, or whether they were willing to gratify him with a convenient
Seat, in which he might see all the Royal Family and all the Splendors of the
Place, I know not. But the Scheme could not have been carried into Execution
certainly without the orders of the King. I was selected and summoned indeed
from all my Company, and ordered to a Seat close beside the Royal Family. The
Seats on both Sides of the Hall, arranged like the Seats in a Theater, were all
full of Ladies of the first Rank and Fashion in the Kingdom and there was no
room or place for me but in the midst of them. It was not easy to make room for
one more Person. However Room was made and I was situated between two Ladies,
with Rows and Ranks of Ladies above and below me, and on the right hand and on
the left hand Ladies only. My Dress was a decent French Dress, becoming the
Station I held, but not to be compared with
[the] Gold and
Diamonds and Embroidery about me. I could neither speak nor understand the
Language in a manner to support a Conversation: but I had soon the Satisfaction
to find it was a silent Meeting, and that nobody spoke a Word but the Royal
Family to each other, and they said very little. The Eyes of all the Assembly
were turned upon me, and I felt sufficiently humble and mortified, for I was
not a proper Object for the criticisms of such a Company. I
[found] a myself gazed at, as We in
America used to gaze at the Sachems who came to make Speeches to
Us in Congress, but I thought it very hard if I could not command as much Power
of face, as one of the Chiefs of the Six Nations, and therefore determined that
I would assume a
chearful Countenance, enjoy the
Scene around me and observe it as coolly as an Astronomer contemplates the
Starrs. Inscriptions of Fructus Belli were seen on the
Ceiling and all about the Walls of the Room among Paintings of the Trophies of
War, probably done by the order of Louis the fourteenth, who
confessed in his dying Hour as his Successor and Exemplar
Napoleone will probably do,
that he had been too fond of
War. The King was the Royal Carver for himself and all his Family. His
Majesty eat like a King and made a Royal Supper of solid Beef and other Things
in Proportion. The Queen took a large spoonful of
Soupe, and displayed her fine Person and graceful manners, in
alternately looking at the Company in various parts of the Hall, and ordering
several kinds of
Page 4
Seasoning to be brought to her, by which she
fitted her Supper to her Taste. When this was accomplished, her Majesty
exhibited to the admiring Spectators, the magnificent Spectacle of a great
Queen swallowing her Royal Supper in a single Spoonful, all at once. This was
all performed like perfect Clockwork, not a feature of her face, nor a Motion
of any part of her Person, especially her Arm and her hand could be criticised
as out of order. A little and but a little Conversation seemed to pass among
the Royal Personages of both Sexes, but in so low a voice that nothing could be
understood by any of the Audience.
The Officers about the Kings Person brought him many Letters and Papers from
time to time, while he was at Table. He looked at these, some of them he read
or seemed to read, and returned them to the same Officers who brought them or
some others.
These Ceremonies and Shows may be condemned by Philosophy and ridiculed by
Commedy, with great reason. Yet the common Sense of Mankind has never adopted
the rigid decrees of the former, nor ever sincerely laughed with the latter.
Nor has the Religion of Nations in any Age, approved of the Dogmas or the
Satyrs. On the Contrary it has always overborne them all and carried its
Inventions of such Exhibitions to a degree of Sublimity and Pathos which has
frequently transported the greatest Infidels out of themselves. Something of
the kind every Government and every Religion has and must have: and the
Business and Duty of Lawgivers and Philosophers is to endeavour to prevent them from being carried too far.
June 8. 1778.
Dined with Mr. Alexander, and went to the Concert. There
were two Gentlemen of the Name of Alexander, originally from
Scotland, who came to
France and took a house in the Neighbourhood of
Passi. One was a Bachelor who had lived in the
West Indies and was supposed to be a Man of Property. The other
had a Family consisting of several Daughters one of whom Mr.
Williams afterwards married. There had been some former Connections
between Mr. Franklin and this family in
England, which was carefully concealed as a Mystery and I had no
Curiosity to enquire into
it.Franklin however several times said to me that they had
been under great Obligations to him in former times. And one of them now and
then dropped to me, some of Franklins former confessions to
him, concerning his Amours which were curious enough. The Ostensible Purpose of
their residence in
France was a Lawsuit of great importance to them in which they
expected and I believe received Assistance from Franklin. The
Alexanders were sensible Men, and their daughters were well
behaved and agreable young Ladies, which made
their Situation in the neighbourhood a pleasant
Circumstance.
June
10. 1778
Passi
June 10. 1778
Sir
We have received your Letter of the fourth instant, and in answer to it
